Trevor Noah defends Standing Rock protestors: This time white people ‘can be the ones who move ‘

The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah spoke out in support of the Standing Rock Reservation and Dakota Access Pipeline protestors Thursday, suggesting that after centuries of “moving native people’s from place to place, maybe just this one time you can be the ones who move.”

Noah said the protestors are fighting the pipeline because “one, their land is sacred and, two, they are worried about the pipe leaking and contaminating the Missouri river, their main water source,” adding they’ve “endured dog attacks, tear gas, water cannons and Jill Stein.”

The host then tore into Kelcy Warren, the CEO behind the Dakota Access Pipeline, who said in an interview last month that “absent human error,” the pipeline is safe.

“Good news: we only have to worry about humans not making mistakes,” Noah joked. “Yeah, I like those odds.”

Noah launched into a scathing takedown of arguments the the Dakota Access Pipeline has nothing to do with race, nothing that the original path crossed near Bismarck, a city that is 90 percent white and, after a community uproar rerouted under the Standing Rock Reservation.

“This is pipeline is N-S-F-W: not safe for whites,” he said, sarcastically adding:

“I joke, but I don’t think it’s racial. It’s a numbers thing. More people live near Bismarck. If the pipeline is rooted there, it would have passed closer to more homes and needed to cross water sources more times. And because we love fossil fuels, the fact is the pipe has to go somewhere. What are we going to do? Just not use oil? Come on, that’s just…possible.”

After hitting once more on the hypocrisy of people saying the pipeline is not safe enough for their communities, but safe enough for Standing Rock, Noah issued his plea: “Look, America has spent centuries moving native people’s from place to place. Maybe just this one time you can be the ones who move.”